After breaking the school’s single-season home run record, Texas Tech softball’s Jessica Hartwell has been named Big 12 Co-Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday.
It marks the second Big 12 weekly award of the season for Hartwell and the third of her career. This is also the fourth time a Red Raider has been recognized by the league office this season with redshirt sophomore Karli Hamilton and freshman pitcher Erin Edmoundson also receiving nods.
Hartwell led the conference with three home runs, eight RBI and seven runs scored while hitting 6-of-9 at the plate with a double, two walks and two stolen bases. The Galt, Calif., native hit home runs 17, 18 and 19 in a doubleheader sweep at UTEP to break the school’s home run record and now stands in a tie for fifth nationally in home runs this season.
Her 17th home run of the season not only tied the record, but tied the score at 5-5 in the seventh inning in game one at UTEP. Trailing 5-4, Hartwell led off the seventh with a solo shot to center that evened the score and allowed Tech to eventually pull ahead for an 8-5 win.
In game two, she broke a 1-1 tie with a three-run blast in the fifth inning and later added a two-run bomb in the seventh to add to her record.
The first baseman, who has also been named national player of the week twice this season, is hitting .397 for the year and sports a .918 slugging percentage, which ranks ninth nationally.
The Red Raiders went 3-0 last week with a run-rule victory over Abilene Christian and a doubleheader sweep at UTEP. Tech (28-24) finished with its first winning regular season since 2014 and will head to the 2018 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship as the No. 5 seed.
COURTESY OF TEXAS TECH ATHLETICS
